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Edwards qualifies to 100m semis

Tyrell Edwards was the lone T&T athlete who moved on to the next round of the IAAF World Under-20 Championships in Tampere, Finland, yesterday.

Edwards qualified for the semifinal round in the Men's 100 metres, clocking 10.57 seconds to place fourth in heat six to advance as one of the fastest losers on day one at the Ratina Stadium.

Timothy Frederick also faced the starter in the dash and he crossed fifth in the opening heat in a time of 10.69, not quick enough to advance.

Edwards, whose personal and season's best time is 10.46, will line up in lane two in the third heat seeking a spot in the final against the likes of Italian Lorenzo Paissan, Chad Miller of Great Britan, Australian Jake Doran, who set an Oceanian U-20 100m record of 10.15 in Finland recently, Marvin Shulte of Germany, American Eric Harrison, Riku Illukka of the host country and South Africa's Thembo Monareng, last year's African U-20 champion with a swift 10.18 seconds.

Also in action on the track was quartermiler Rae-Ann Serville running in the women's 400m. She had the slowest reaction time (0.248) and did not finish the race.

It did not get better for T&T on the field as Talena Murray's 48.36 metres did meet the qualifying standard (53.50) and her mark was not among the top 12 distances.

Murray's second throw was the best of three attempts, placing her ninth of the 12 competitors in group B and 17th overall. She opened with a 41.98-toss and closed with a 43.85. Sara Zabarino was the top qualifier with a personal best 53.99.

Today, junior "Sportswoman of the Year" Ianna Roach will get her first taste of competition when she competes in group A in the women's shot put event. She enters with a personal and season's best 14.70m and needs to meet the qualifying mark of 15.50m or at least be among the best 12 performers to advance to the final which is scheduled for the evening session of the day's programme which starts at 9.30 am (T&T time).

Meanwhile, T&T trio of quartermiler Onal Mitchell and sprinters Jenea Spinks and Akilah Lewis will be back on the track.

Mitchell will race in the Men's 400m in heat five of seven, out of lane two, while Spinks and Lewis will compete in the Women's 100m dash. Spinks will be in lane six in heat one and Lewis in the third heat in lane seven.